National Park Quiz 27: The Border Parks

Do you recognize this historic mine complex? Do you know what metallic ore it produced? Photo by Sewtex via Wikipedia.

1. Examine the photo accompanying this quiz, which was taken in a border park. It shows a concentration and smelting plant complex associated with mines located nearby. Declared a National Historic Landmark in 1986, this historic mining complex produced ______ for nearly forty years.
a. copper
b. gold
c. silver
d. lead

2. Four National Park System units are listed below. Which was established to commemorate the peaceful resolution of a border dispute between the United States and its neighbor?
a. Perry’s Victory and International Peace Memorial
b. Chamizal National Memorial
c. Cabrillo National Memorial
d. Rio Grande Wild and Scenic River

3. Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park was established in _____ as the world’s first International Peace Park.
a. 1932
b. 1946
c. 1964
d. 1976

4. On a clear day, the short trail that begins at Montezuma Pass in ______ offers impressive views extending tens of miles into Mexico.
a. Amistad National Recreation Area
b. Cabrillo National Memorial
c. Palo Alto Battlefield National Historic Site
d. Coronado National Memorial

5. Muir Glacier, one of the best known glaciers at Glacier Bay National Park & Preserve,
a. covers an area the size of Massachusetts
b. extends all the way into Canada
c. is no longer a tidewater glacier
d. was named for the first European who saw it

7. According to published National Park System statistics, which border park had the greatest annual visitation last year?
a. Glacier National Park
b. Amistad National Recreation Area
c. Glacier Bay National Park & Preserve
d. Big Bend National Park

8. Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve and Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve both border Canada. In recognition of their outstanding glacier-covered landscapes and valuable wildlife habitat, they have been jointly designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site along with Tatshenshini-Alsek Provincial Park in British Columbia, Canada and what other Canadian National Park?
a. Wood Buffalo National Park
b. Torngat Mountains National Park Reserve
c. Kluane National Park and Reserve
d. Banff National Park

9. A white flag is flown at ______ to acknowledge an important 17th century event that took place there.
a. Glacier Bay National Park & Preserve
b. Coronado National Monument
c. Voyageurs National Park
d. St. Croix Island International Historic Site

10. The Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve would be an especially good place to watch
a. polar bears
b. puffins
c. peregrine falcons
d. elk

12. Though not a full fledged national park, the ______ is an Affiliated Area situated in international territory on the North Dakota-Manitoba border.
a. Peace Arch Transfrontier Conservation Area
b. Green Line Peace Park
c. International Peace Garden
d. Roosevelt-Campobello International Historic Site

Answers:

(1) a – This is a photo of the copper concentration and smelting plant at Kennecott Mines (AHRS Site No. XMC-001), which is within the borders of Alaska’s Wrangell-St. Elias National Park & Preserve.

(2) b – The 55-acre Chamizal National Memorial at El Paso, Texas, commemorates the American-Mexican Chamizal Convention Act of 1964, which is considered a milestone in diplomatic relations between Mexico and the United States. This treaty peacefully settled a century-long boundary dispute triggered by shifts in the course of the Rio Grande River (now prevented in this vicinity by a concrete channel).

(3) a -- Formed by the merger of the Waterton Lakes and Glacier National Parks in 1932, Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park was created to serve as a symbol of friendship and peace between the United States and Canada.

(4) d -- Coronado National Memorial, which commemorates the early 1540s expedition of Spanish explorer Francisco Vásquez de Coronado, is located near Sierra Vista, Arizona. The park's Coronado Peak Trail begins at Montezuma Pass, ranges up to 6,864 feet in elevation, and offers panoramic views of the San Rafael Valley extending southward into Mexico. This is the route Coronado used to enter what is now U.S. territory.

(5) c -- As recently as the mid-1980s, Muir Glacier was a tidewater glacier that calved icebergs from a wall of ice about 200 feet tall. It has receded more than seven miles since 1941, however, and no longer reaches the ocean.

(6) c – Amistad National Recreation Area has a system of deep underwater caves that can be accessed by experienced scuba divers. The cave dives, which are considered extremely hazardous, involve the use of exotic gas mixes, the pre-placement of gas cylinders, and extensive decompression times at depth.

(7) a – Glacier National Park had 2,083,329 visitors in 2007. Amistad National Recreation Area came in a close second among the border parks with 1,734,200 visitors.

(8) c -- Located in the extreme southwestern corner of Yukon Territory, and dominated by mountains and glaciers, Kluane National Park and Reserve are actually two units of Canada's national park system.

(9) d -- A 17th-century flag of France is flown at St. Croix Island International Historic Site in Maine as part of the commemoration of the 1604 landing at Saint Croix and the establishment of the first permanent French settlement in North America. Vexillological authorities (flag experts) in the United States and France counseled that the drapeau blanc (white flag) of the Bourbon Monarchy was the appropriate flag to fly on the island.

(10) c -- Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve is home to the largest nesting habitat of the American peregrine falcon in the United States.

(11) b -- The organ pipe cactus (Stenocereus thurberi) produces three-inch funnel-shaped flowers, usually during the late spring and early summer. The flowers, which are white with a purple or pink tint, are fertilized mostly by bats because they open at night and close before daylight.

(12) c -- The International Peace Garden is a 2,339-acre botanical garden that opened on the North Dakota-Canada border in 1932 as a symbol of international friendship. To get to the IPG, visitors must go through customs and have proper identification. Upon leaving the IPG, they must report to the port of entry of whichever country they are re-entering.